Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Saturday's Good Morning America, ABC News correspondent Mary Alice Parks fed viewers liberal spin and dishonesty as she not only misleadingly claimed that the Donald Trump administration only built 80 miles of "new wall," but she also forwarded Democrat talking points claiming that the border problems that got worse under President Joe Biden are somehow Trump's fault.
Anchor Dan Harris began the report by recalling that the Biden administration would be sending funding back to the Defense Department that had been allocated by Trump for border wall construction.
After reiterating the point, reporter Mary Alice Parks understated the amount of wall built on the border: "The Trump administration only built about 80 miles of new wall where wall hadn't existed before."
In fact, more than 400 miles of new wall have been built, with several hundred miles of improved wall replacing the shoddy, ineffectual barriers that were previously there.
She then repeated Democratic spin pushing blame onto Trump without even trying to fact check the claims:
Some Republicans -- as you can imagine -- are blasting the Biden administration, saying that this will exacerbate the migrant crisis. But the White House wrote in a statement that they inherited a broken immigration system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars and neither kept the American people safe nor adhered to our values.
The argument that the improved border wall had reduced illegal crossings in those areas where it was built was ignored.
This shoddy journalism was sponsored in part by Edward Jones. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
ABC
Good Morning America
May 1, 2021
DAN HARRIS: Meanwhile, here at home, the Biden administration is now moving to cancel funding for the border wall and return the funds to the Pentagon. ABC's White House correspondent, Mary Alice Parks, is on the South Lawn with that story. Mary Alice, good morning to you.
MARY ALICE PARKS: Good morning to you, Dan. From day one, we've seen President Biden break away from President Trump's border policies. And now this latest move, the administration saying they are formally returning billions of dollars back to the Department of Defense that have been diverted for border wall construction. And like you said, they're planning to cancel all existing construction contracts there on the border wall.
The Trump administration only built about 80 miles of new wall where wall hadn't existed before. Some Republicans -- as you can imagine -- are blasting the Biden administration, saying that this will exacerbate the migrant crisis. But the White House wrote in a statement that they inherited a broken immigration system that wasted billions of taxpayer dollars and neither kept the American people safe nor adhered to our values.
Now, they say the money will go instead to daycares and schools on military bases. The big question now: What will happen to the wall overall? The administration says they're still reviewing all of it.